Kapok Aging and Caregiver Resources: What to Expect from Your Medicare Annual Wellness Visit
By Angelica Herrera Venson, DrPH, MPH
The following excerpt is reprinted with permission from Kapok Aging and Caregiver Resources.
As you get older, it’s important to take control of your health through routine and preventative care. One way to do this is through a Medicare Annual Wellness Visit (AWV). This is free to all individuals on Medicare, with or without an advantage care plan or ‘supplement.’ Some seniors get confused about how it differs from a physical and what’s covered. We’ll try to clear this up in this brief post.
It’s Not So Bad!
If you or a loved one are on Medicare, you may be wondering what to expect from your Medicare Annual Wellness Visit. Check out this short video from Embrace the Journey for a fun and positive look at the Medicare Annual Wellness Visit, what you’ll be answering on the health screening forms, and what to expect through your appointment.
What Is the Medicare Annual Wellness Visit?
The Annual Wellness Visit is a yearly appointment with your primary care provider to create or update a personalized prevention plan.
The Annual Wellness Visit is a preventive service that helps identify risk factors for Medicare patients to assess aspects of your self-reported health status, family history and medical history. It begins with questions from a health risk assessment (HRA), which you can complete on your own prior to the visit.
It collects a host of demographic information, questions about your ability to move around independently, participate in daily activities, your use of medications, your general mood, sleep habits, lifestyle, and more. Your doctor will go over these and make a care plan for anything concerning.
This comprehensive review will identify any risks factors that may impact your physical or mental health, so they can be addressed before it becomes too late. Most visits also include cognitive health screening.
Who is Eligible for an Annual Wellness Visit?
Eligible beneficiaries are individuals who have not received either an initial preventive physical examination or annual wellness visit in the past 12 months.
An initial AWV is available to the beneficiary during the second year of eligibility for Medicare and can be done yearly thereafter.
Bear in mind that if you’re new to Medicare, your first visit may be longer and more comprehensive, and even go by another name, such as the ‘Welcome to Medicare’ preventive visit.
READ IN FULL AT KAPOK CAREGIVER RESOURCES
Angelica Herrera VensonAngelica Herrera Venson, DrPH, MPH is a gerontologist born in San Diego and raised on both sides of the U.S-Mexico border. She’s a public health advocate who has spent two decades in community health work and research investigating how immigrant and racial /ethnic minority family caregivers and seniors navigate old age and seek out health and elder care. Today, Angelica supports some of Arizona’s community health centers, which serve primarily Medicaid and underserved communities, in their transition to value-based care.
About Multicultural Guide to Caregiving
Author and gerontologist, Angelica P. Herrera Venson, DrPH, opens up and shares her family’s personal stories and lessons from her field work and research on aging and caregiving with communities of color and first generation Americans.